Water Wheel May/June 2020: Water And Society

Abstract

Water reuse – what does the public know? With a fast-growing population, recurring droughts and water risks due to climate change, it has become critical to plan for the increasing demand for freshwater. Climate change prediction models suggest that average temperatures will rise, and rainfall events will become more infrequent, but also more intense, thereby increasing the unpredictability of water availability. Not only the likelihood, but also the severity of extreme climate events are expected to increase in the near future. Events like the recent multi-year drought are becoming the ‘new normal’ in southern Africa due to unfolding climate change. Many of South Africa’s municipalities would be at risk if there were to be a serious multi-year drought. Water reuse is considered one of the ways that South Africa can avoid a projected 17% water deficit by 2030. Currently, it is one of the strategies proposed in the National Water Resource Strategy 2 and the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan. But what, if anything, does the public know about using water more than once?

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